Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is coming and with that, a well-earned holiday period is near. Now it's time to see some red instead of blue :)

Santa has come to visit the terminal building of Helsinki-Malmi airport.

Next year the studying of blue books continues and I've heard that we'll start "lightly" with a mock exam on meteorology. Nice!

Maldivian Air Taxi

In these times of dark winter evenings, rainfall and coldness I'm sure many of us dream of warm faraway places with their eternal summer and sunny beaches. I've been spending some time researching all the different airlines operating in these places and dreamed about possible jobs in one of these companies. A great way to gather some extra motivation in the middle of a theory course!

They say you haven't lived if you've never flown Twin Otters in the Maldives. I suppose I'll never live then. At least I know a certain amount of our population is with me :)

One of the air carriers under closer inspection is Maldivian Air Taxi that operates a huge fleet of Twin Otters in the Maldivian islands flying people from an island resort to another. According to one of our teachers some finnish pilots have gone flying there in the past and it seems they still have at least an application form you can fill in their website, with requirements that are quite possible to meet.

Look at the size of that tailplane!

However it seems that the company has started to stricten its requirements and apparently you'll need a lot of seaplane experience to be applicable. In addition the Maldivian government has started to favour local pilots and it can be hard for expat first officers to gain work permits to the country. So practically it seems that unless you're a captain with thousand seaplane hours it might be quite impossible to get a job.

So, that's it about the motivation and back to the books! :)

Can one drown in blue books?

Theoretical studies continue and there's more than enough to learn. CPL theories are just something way different than PPL theories. The language has changed from Finnish to English and when AGK was formerly all about the systems of our little Cessna 152 we have now started tearing Boeings and Airbuses to pieces and exploring them. Navigation is now more like mathematics and all about calculating time differences, convergences and departures when it earlier was a kind of "there the church of Nikkilä is now" -kind of subject. Also, my "dear" flight computer has become increasingly familiar to me lately.

Our ground instructors are all in all quite decent. What's different from PPL studies is that we no longer have our schools own instructors teaching us. We now have freelancer instructors who are experts of diffferent subjects, mainly airline pilots, business pilots, air traffic controllers and technical people.

I'm planning on keeping a little break from writing. There's really not that much to say about theoretical studies. I wake up in the morning, go to school, sit there for six to seven hours and go home. The weeks pass by suprisingly fast now that I've become used to this kind of schedule after the randomness of the flight period. It seems now that the theory course should be over by April next year.

But before that, there's a little over 200 classroom hours of things to learn!

CPL theories begin! ...and flying ends.

The CPL theory course begin next monday on the 27th. After that it's time to stay in the ground and sit in the class everyday listening to lectures. I predict it can at first be quite hard to just sit in the class after all this flying. On the other hand it's quite nice to be able to sit inside in the warm as outside temperature decreases all the time and the weather gets worse.

We got our books and material in advance. In the We will use the blue ATPL-series by Oxford Aviation Academy. Some parts of the subjects will not yet be covered in the CPL course but I think most of the contents will become familiar. I'm actually quite horrified by the amount of stuff to learn, just got to cope with it!

So there's fourteen different books and the ones most important regarding working life are easily recognizable by their small number of pages :)


Oxford JAA ATPL -series:

Volume 1: Air Law
Volume 2: Aircraft Knowledge 1 - Airframes & Systems
Volume 3: Aircraft Knowledge 2 - Electrics & Electronics
Volume 4: Aircraft Knowledge 3 - Piston and Gas Turbine Engines
Volume 5: Aircraft Knowledge 4 - Instrumentation
Volume 6: Flight Planning 1 - Mass & Balance, Performance
Volume 7: Flight Planning 2 - Flight Planning & Monitoring
Volume 8: Human Performance
Volume 9: Meteorology
Volume 10: Navigation 1 - General Navigation
Volume 11: Navigation 2 - Radio Navigation
Volume 12: Operational Procedures
Volume 13: Principles of Flight
Volume 14: Communications

Summary of the PPL flight training period

Now it's the time to just believe that flying is over for this year. Weather keeps getting worse and in the last week almost no-one seems to have gotten in the air. Luckily, almost the whole PPL-phase is now completed and actually only two solo cross-country flights will have to be postponed to next year.

A rainy day and an Antonov AN-2

So, the first flight training period is now over and here's a quick summary of the flying hours I logged during the training:

Total time: 48h 25min
PIC: 12h 19min
Dual: 36h 06min

C152: 48h 25min

Take-offs by day: 159
Landings by day: 159

Sensory illusions, cross-country adventures and the end of the flight period...

Autumn weather has taken over Finland and chances to get in the sky get slimmer every day. Lately I've been having quite a lot of free time. Usually you can just continue sleeping in early morning after gazing out of the window and seeing some BKN003 SHRA weather.. Alternatively you'll wake up when your flight instructor texts you that the day is cancelled.

Ready for takeoff at runway 36, I miss this kind of weather :)

Some flying has happened though, including something new to me. The PPL flight training includes so called basic instrument flights, which are meant to teach the student pilot how to make a co-ordinated 180 degree out of a cloud in the case that you accidentally end up in bad weather. This is the sole purpose of the trainining and by no means it gives any competence on being able to actually fly in instrument conditions on purpose. Well, that training is also ahead of me later, when the IFR course begins.

We simulated instrument conditions by using special goggles that restrict the view outside of the windows and forces you to focus on your instruments. It was interesting to notice how much mental capacity is required even for the most basic of maneuvres when the visual horizon is taken away from you. Even straight and level flight requires much more work than usual, since the tennis ball -sized artificial horizon isn't as easy a reference than its natural big brother. I also experienced a somatogyric illusion when all of a sudden I felt a strong sense of turning left even though I was flying straight ahead. You almost start to correct this falsely perceived attitude before realizing that the artificial horizon shows that you're flying straight and level.

Coming in for landing!

One flight that's also behind me is the classic "Turku-Tampere" flight, which is the traditional way of flying that mandatory flight to controlled aerodromes that's in the PPL syllabus. The flight planning for this trip took almost three times as much time compared to the last cross-country flight we did to Hyvinkää and Lahti. I had to plan three flights: From Malmi to Turku, from there to Tampere and then back to Malmi. In addition, this was the first time I had to plan a route using flight levels (FL75) so some time was consumed in counting Top of Climb and Top of Descent -points.

Me flying the Charlie Alfa Papa, another successful landing completed!

Something funny happened to me the day before as I forgot to check our crew web in the afternoon, noticing the information about a cross-country flight late in the evening therefore having no time to plan the flight. So I woke up at two'o'clock in order to be at the airport at three in the morning. Planning takes time and I didn't want the flight to be cancelled. Actually it was quite epic to be at school in complete darkness, doing pre-flight checks with a flashlight...

Cross-country flying - SL Flight Training's style

The PPL flight training period goes on and now we've gotten into our first cross-country excercises. Solo flights have been flown in the traffic circuit and training area and every once in a while we have gone to the sky with the flight instructor to rehearse on some old things and learn new ones.

SL Flight Training's hangar, a few 152's in maintenance. On the right there's the Piper Turbo Arrow, which will become familiar to us in the end of the CPL training.

Cross-country flying using our schools professional methods and standard operating procedures have been the freshest and most new thing to me recently. I've flown a lot of cross-country on the ultralight side, and we of course did some operational flight plans and calculations but now the planning stage has risen to a whole new level. These flights are very thorough and everything needs to be prepared in advantage. We're training to become professionals after all, not recreational Cessna pilots.

After some basic navigation excercises I flew my first real cross-country flight. This flight was the so called "Hyvinkää-Lahti", which was a route from Malmi to Hyvinkää, from there to Lahti-Vesivehmaa and back to Malmi. The flight included touch and go landings on both of the aerodromes mentioned.

Nope, found no treasure over there this time.

Flight planning for "Hyvinkää-Lahti" took some 1.5 hours including fuel calculations, route plotting and making the operational flight plan. I did wind calculations, calculated ground speeds, magnetic headings and estimated fuel flow during the trip. Of course I had to gather all the radio frequences, aerodrome bulletins, route bulletins, aerodrome charts and information on touch and go landings. After that it was time to file the flight plans, order fueling and printing out all the notams, charts and weather information. Finally, when the pile of printed sheets exceeded the height of our Cessna's beacon, it was time to go and fly!

The flight itself went well and weather was decent enough for the whole trip. At the same time a few other planes flew the same route so had to keep my eyes open all the time. I must say that all the planning and preparing pays itself back when in the air, as everything feels so secure and organized. You know where you're going and what you're doing, have all the information at your hands and are always a bit ahead of your plane. Something I havn't always experienced in the past.

First solo flight!

Today was the day when my flight training had advanced to the point that I could fly solo for the first time. I would very much like to write the traditional story here, where I'm at first extremely nervous and then embark to the skies and come down safely with a huge sense of relief and personal accomplishment.

But... this was the fourth "first solo" for me, so I genuinely wasn't nervous at all and the flight wasn't anything mindblowing, although it felt nice of course. However I don't remember being especially nervous before and during my true first solo with a glider. I'm not saying I'm better than others in any way but somehow flying for me feels very natural and I just somehow know I can manage whatever comes up. Sometimes I bit envy some of my coursemates who have come to the school with zero hours of flight experience. Everything is so new and exciting. I suppose I'll have to wait a while before something totally new comes to me, since this PPL course has been very familiar so far.

Still, it's always nice to fly without an instructor. There's always these waypoints in flight training where having an instructor on board doesn't really add to the experience and you'll have to fly solo for a while to make progress. So now it was fun to fly alone and enjoy the silence and Cessna flying.

The day's sortie was a flight in the traffic circuit, where I had to make five touch and go landings in the vicinity of Malmi airport. After this it was time to park the plane and head for the hangar to receive some applauds and congratulations.

...and yes, there came the cold water! :)

I flew a regional airliner over the Austrian Alps...!

...in the simulator.

In flight training there's sometimes quite a lot of waiting involved, for example when the other pilot from your flight group is in the air with your plane or when the weather doesn't aallow for immediate departure. What a better opportunity to catch up on some checklists, school SOP's and brush up on some theoretical knowledge...

Or alternatively, play with our nice flight simulator :)

The sim in question is a usual Microsoft Flight Simulator X, which is located in the crew lounge in our hangar. However, we have a nice, large flat-screen TV, a proper control yoke, a throttle quadrant and rudder pedals to enchance the feeling and realism.

In the cockpit of an ATR, ready for taxi!

In addition to playing with different airplanes and landscapes, you can actually benefit from the simulator. By choosing the Cessna 152 and Malmi airport it's easy and convenient to practice SOP's, checklists and other procedures especially in the traffic circuit. Everything works like in real world, with the exception of a real feel for the controls. Also, the pitch attitude compared to speed and power setting isn't quite there.

Flying between mountains.

About ten hours of Cessna-flights behind

We've now been flying for two weeks and now something like 20 percent of the PPL flight course is now flown. Bad weather and low-base autumn clouds have bothered a little bit but we've still managed to get airborne almost every day. The 152 starts to become quite familiar already as I've grasped a certain routine to checklists and operational procedures.

The most well-equipped plane from SL Flight Training's C152 fleet, the Alfa Whiskey Bravo.

Tomorrow we're taking a checklist exam where you're supposed to remember all of the checklists by heart, so that you are then not dependent on them in flight. Although checklists are an essential part of flying and especially our professional pilot training, it wouldn't be convenient if no-one of us knew how to fly the Cessna 152 without all the checklists. After all, it's an extremely simple airplane to operate compared to large commercial airliners.

Flaps down is a sign meaning that pre-flight inspection has been done.

A New Licence!

My motor glider pilot's licence, MGPL came in a letter a few days ago! Shame I don't have time to travel to Turku too often to fly these planes. If there were some Fournier's in Malmi I'm sure I'd rather fly those than the ultralights.

Cruising over the coastal islands of Turku. Memories...

Beginning of flight training!

Our PPL flight training started this week and now in the past few days we have flown a total of four school flights in the Cessna 152. Flying itself feels very familiar but of course there's always something new to learn in a new airplane type. However, most of my mental capacity in flight goes to memorizing and learning all the call-outs and checklists in English language. We operate the 152 like a much larger airplane with more complex procedures than what are really needed. The intention is to prepare for the future. We are not here to become private VFR-pilots after all!

The first aircraft assigned to me from SL Flight Trainings C152 fleet was the OH-COY.

SL Flight Training has a fleet of nine Cessna 152 aircraft, which are one of the most popular training aircraft of the world. The C152 is essentially an upgraded version of the C150, which is the fifth most porduced airplane in the world with almost 24 000 individuals made. The winner is the Cessna 172, a four-seat variant with over 43 000 planes produced, two of which can be found in my school's hangar...

The Coyote and a nice summer day. This is one of the two odd birds not painted in the school's livery.

Most of the school's C152 fleet, actually seven of the nine planes are painted in the school's livery of red and brown stripes and every plane has an SL logo on tail. The fleet consists of register marks OH-AWB, -CAP, -CJM, -COD, -COG, -COY, -CTC, -CVP and -CVY. I'm hoping to fly all of these and determine my own personal favourite :)

PPL theories over!

Okay, now we have studied the whole PPL theory package with the exception of a few lessons of COM, which are due a little later when we've already flown a bit. My success has been quite good, with grades averaging something over 90% or so.

The quality of SL Flight Training's PPL theory course was really good in my opinion. I have to say I learned a lot of important new things I can now start implementing in sailplane flying and ultralights too. Whereas our ultralight theory package consisted of 60 hours of studies, SL Flight Training's PPL course included over 125 hours of work and very little of the subjects involved are those that have little practical relevance regarding general aviation. This is why I can recommend studying a PPL theory course even though you'd only like to get an ultralight pilot's licence. There's so much relevant information that many necessary things may be left in the shadows if studying only the 60-hour theory package regardless of the quality of that course.

The last week of PPL theories

So, the introductionary flight's now behind me. It didn't leave feelings as great I hoped, mainly because I felt the instructor was in a real rush and didn't quite focuss on the job at hand. Also, I couldn't get the intercom to work properly so I didn't really hear anyhting my instructor said to me during the flight!
But well, this was my first official flight with a "real" motorized airplane!

The Cessna 152 seems very easy to fly, being quite the same as the Fk9 ELA ultralight I've flown a lot. The main difference was the old school looks, a degraded view outside and the increased balance and lazyness due to higher weight. Landing is also way easier and the main gear is really flexible apologizing for errors. With the Fk9, if the touchdown isn't 100% perfect, the plane lets you know!

So we flew about 20 minutes over the coast of southern Helsinki and then came straight to final runway 36 and landed. That's it! :)

There it is, my first entry... :)

We've been going through some theories again and last weeks exams didn't turn out so well I'd hoped for. They were GEN, FPP and COM, and I made some stupid errors in each of them. Still scored over 90% in each one though.

More theories

Okay, now we are on the better side of things. The fifth week of theoretical studies is going by and after that we should start flying. We are going to have some introductionary flights this weeks friday, flown with three planes in three groups. My plane is going to be OH-CVP, which I get to fly the day after tomorrow! 

Last week we studied many subjects and had the school exam for POF and Air Law. I thankfully got quite good grades from both of the subjects.

Some flight planning we had to practise during navigation lessons.

Motor Gliding

Last week's friday was a day off from school so I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and finally take the necessary flying lessons to get a motor glider pilot's licence. I travelled to Turku airport where Turku Flying Club has two motor gliders. On saturday we flew one school flight with the flight instructor I booked, and on sunday morning I practised flying in the traffic circuit with the instructor. Right after that I had my check ride which went really well and after returning to the ground I found out that my instructor had already made the necessary arrangements for me to go solo. So one quick chat and a handshake later I climbed back to the cockpit and started the engine. I went flying over the coastal islands and it was totally fantastic!

The Fournier RF-5 at Jämi airfield, right after "Tuulia Team's" aerobatics show

The plane I flew was the Fournier RF-5, nicknamed "Tuulia II" in Finland. It is a very beautiful and elegant airplane with a certain vintage feel to it. A true gentleman's aircraft. Here's some technical information:

A simple and comfortable cockpit. Even an articificial horizon is present..!

General

Seats: 2
Lenght: 7,80m
Wingspan: 13.74m
Empty Weight: 420kg
Useful Load: 230kg
Maximum Take-off Weight: 650kg
Engine: 1x Limbach 1700E, 63hp

Performance

Vcruise: 175km/h
Vno: 210km/h
Vne: 250km/h
Vs: 75km/h
Range: 760km
Service Ceiling: 16400ft

Rate of Climb: 590ft/min
L/D Ratio: 22:1

Half of PPL theories studied!

So, now we've studied about half of the PPL theory lessons. Exactly three weeks have passed since the beginning of school and I've heard that there's about three more weeks to go. We have gone through AGK, MET and OPS and had exams on all of the three subjects. I got about 93% from meteorology and 95% from AGK so at the moment I've been quite successful. Also, we have gone through the whole POF subject and next week we should have an exam. Requires some studying, I suppose..

Some new subjects we have been going through are FPP - flight planning & performance and air law, so there's enough material and information to go through. Navigation should begin next week along with HPL - human performance & limitations. The latter interests me quite much, since I have been interested in psychology before.

Our flight training should begin in the middle of August. Waiting for that eagerly :)

The first week has passed...

From last tuesday onwards we've been going through PPL theories intensively. Our first subject was AGK, which stands for aircraft general knowledge and deals with all the technical aspects of airplanes. We studied the whole subject in the first three days of school. The exam should be next week then. Last friday we started meteorology and that continues next week.

The PPL theory course must include at least 100 hours of theoretical studies but at SL Flight Training we are going to study at least 125 hours of theories. Very reasonable, since these theories cover all the most essential things one needs to know about flying. Ten different subjects should be covered by these 125 hours, and we have six weeks to go!

Seven books and a lot to learn.

Here's a short list of subjects included in the PPL theory course:

AGK, Aircraft General Knowledge
MET, Meteorology
POF, Principles of Flight
OPS, Operational Procedures
FPP, Flight Planning & Performance
GEN, General Safety
NAV, Navigation
COM, Communications
HPL, Human Performance & Limitations
AL, Air Law

First day in school

Today was my first day of school in SL Flight Training, where I'll be spending the next two and a half years. The day began at 12:00 when we gathered in the so-called SL class. This would be our main theory class during the PPL theory course, which starts tomorrow and lasts for about seven weeks. None of the other candidates from my aptitude tests seemed to be present but a few other students were gathered around the yard. We have 15 people in the PPL course, ten of which are students of the Finnish Aviation Academy (who study the PPL phase in our school due to the lack of resources of the Aviation Academy) and five are our own students. We got all of our studying material today and there sure was a lot of it, luckily I bought a larger school bag than I originally intended!

The school's main building

At first we were shown a little bit of the school's history and its status today. The head of training, the school's owner, our chief flight instructor and other flight instructors introduced themselves to us and at the same time we were told about all the study material and what's included. We got a little information package about the school's rules and regulations and all the general study-related things, a plotter, flight computer, the Cessna 152 flight manual, a Jeppesen professional pilot's logbook and Pooley's PPL -series consisting of eight books. We also got a few additional finnish books.
Lastly we got handed this weeks schedule and starting tomorrow at nine, the PPL theory course begins with full throttle :)
Here's a description of our 2.5 year course structure stolen and translated from SL Flight Training's website:

• Integrated Commercial Pilot Training CPL(A)
  • 300 hours of theoretical studies
  • 98 hours of school flights (C152/C172/P28RT)
  • 82 hours of PIC-flights (C152/C172) 
    
• Airline Pilot's Theory Course ATPL(A)
  • 450 hours of theoretical studies
• Instrument Rating IR(A)
  • 35 hours of simulator flying (FNPT II)
  • 15 hours of school flights (P28RT)
• Beechcraft King Air -Type Rating and Multi-Engine Rating
  • 20 hours of theoretical studies
  • 11 hours of school flights (BE90)
• Multi-Crew Coordination Course MCC
  • 25 hours of theoretical studies
  • 20 hours of simulator flying (FNPT II) 

So all in all, about 250 hours of flying and about 1000 hours of theories :)

The Application Process

Here's a little story of the application process I went through before I got accepted to my flight school. 

So, after deciding to pursue the career of a professional pilot I did a lot of research of all the aspects of the field, reading official sources, different forums and stories all over the internet. I noticed that SL Flight Training, a flight school in Helsinki-Malmi airport, some 20 minutes away from my home had a professional pilot programme starting in July and that the enrollment procedure was on. I filled the application form and was now ready to start the four-part application process.


Part 1 - The Application Form

The first phase in the enrollement procedure was sending the application form and suitable applicants would then be selected to aptitude testing. I filled up the three-page application form, which had questions on previous flight experience, education, grades in finnish, english and mathematics and previous jobs. The last part was to write a short essay on yourself. I wrote a little description on my history and why I wanted to become a pilot. I also had to gather a bunch of attachements like my previous licences, school reports and proof of completed conscription. I also had to go to a GP for a general health evaluation and attach all the required papers related to this. After all this it was time to begin waiting for a possible invitation to aptitude testing and in no time I got a nice email telling me that I could continue on to aptitude testing,


Part 2 - The Aptitude Test


The First Day:

The aptitude testing was held at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) in Töölö, Helsinki and it lasted for two whole days beginning at 8am and ending at about 16pm. The first day consisted of general testing where basic mathematical and physics skills were testing in addition to psychological questionnaires and if the results were good one could continue on to the next day. In the hallway there was three of us eagerly waiting to be tested and in no time we were already doing the first tests.

The internet is full of descriptions about aptitude tests so I'm not going to go in-depth about those here. Also, one should remember that aptitude testing isn't about being the best, but about being suitable. There's really only so much you can do in terms of preparing yourself for the tests. It's better to go on with an open mind, do the tests one at a time, trying to be as honest as possible and not to stress too much.

The tests were all different and some were done with pencil and paper while others were computer-based. Tests and questionnaires ranged from psychological questions to drawing assignments and from simple mathematics (often with a little twist) to everyday physics. Many times I felt that a test really measured something else than what one might at first think. Usually the result isn't as important as the way you approach the problem, solve it and work under pressure. Many tests were also there to wreck your nerves. There was always way too little time to finish all the questions and I think the idea was to test how far you could reach with relatively good success rate until your brains exploded from overload. At the end of the day I got to know that my results had been good and that I could continue on to the next day.


The Second Day:

On the second day the nature of the aptitude testing changed and the tests started to become more challenging, diverse and involving. There was group discussion excercises, psychological interviews, hands-on problem solving, personality mapping and even the famous Rorschach inkblot test! Most challenging were all of the different multitasking excercises, where you had to focus on three to four thing at the same time, like keeping a crosshair in top of a constantly moving ball while tapping coloured buttons according to noises heard and so on... The hardest and most infamous test was the dice test where you had to figure out the correct symbol on a given side of a dice with reference to a few two-dimensional pictures of a dice. This forces you to imagine and rotate a three-dimensional dice in your head and to make things harder, those are no numbers on the sides of the dices, but different symbols that can be upside down or sideways. At the end of the day I was quite exhausted but felt good since I felt I hadn't failed any of the tests totally.

After the atitude tests followed the most discomfortable part of the enrollment procedure, which was waiting for the results. About three weeks passed constantly looking through my mail waiting for that letter. The fact that I spend almost every day at Nummela airfield gliding and flying ultralights didn't make this any easier, since friends constantly asked if I had already gotten the answers.

At last I got the long-awaited letter telling me I that the FIOH recommended me for professional pilot training. Everyone who applies to SL Flight Training's pilot training also has the possibility of getting in on a fully self-sponsored cadet scheme for Flybe Finland, but that path didn't open for me. I later found out that although my tests had gone well and my profile was suitable, the airline had somehow questioned my motivation due to the fact that I also had the university doors open for me at the time I applied. I've heard that some have been more applicable after applying for the second time but there would have been a two-year wait before the next application period, which was out of the question for me. I'd already be almost graduated by then! :)


Part 3 - The Medical

The third phase of the application process was acquiring the medical. All commercial pilots must hold a class 1 medical in order to excercise the privileges of their licences. So I went to the Aeromedical Center in Helsinki to be tested.

The medical testing lasted for a day and was somewhat familiar since I already had a sport pilot's medical (class 4). Of course the medical-1 testing was much more thorough and the eyes particularily were under heavy examination. There was a very large amount of tests during the day but thankfully the results turned out to be good. The most memorable event was when a substance was put in to my eyes causing my vision to degrade so that I couldn't read even the large headlines of a newspaper. After the testing I had to wait for a few hours before I was able to drive again.


Part 4 - The Interview

Soon afteer the medical there was the school interview, which was the last part of the application process. SL Flight Training relies on the results from FIOH for pilot selection and so the interview's more like a chance for them to get to know you. So I chatted about an hour with the interviewer, discussing subjects like the training and what it includes, general studying-related things and hopes and expectations on the future. Once again I could tell about myself and my background and why I wanted to become a pilot and attend the training. All in all, the interview was a nice situation, although I had previously researched everything so comprehensively that not much new things came along the interviewers school introduction.

After the interview I got a letter, which welcomed me to attend the school's professional pilot programme, starting on Monday 9th of July. I felt quite happy :)

The Decision

In April 2012 when the weather started to get better and better I began flying ultralights after a long winter break and after a few days of flying I was starting to get this feeling that this isn't enough. I didn't feel happy just flying for a hobby. I wanted to gain more knowledge and learn to fly new airplanes, bigger, more complex and multi-engined airplanes. I had thought about pilot training before but somehow didn't quite get a real grasp of the fact that I could actually start training to become a professional pilot, that it could be the thing for me and not just those others. I had once even abandoned the idea for a while because I thought I wasn't the right kind of person and now I was pursuing an other career path in the university world, and thought it would be enough to fly for a hobby every now and then...

But something about those few flights made me realize that I have to make a shot. I have to see if I could become a professional pilot, see if I could get in to a flight school and see where it gets me eventually.

There are people out there that know what they are capable of and go forward without hesitation knowing they can pass every obstacle. And then there are people like me. I've always succeeded very well in almost everything I've tried to do but I still sometimes find myself thinking that I'm not good enough. That I couldn't succeed in something. For all of you out there who are questioning their abilities: Don't do it. Let others decide your applicability.

I'm happy that I learned this before it was too late!

The Beginning...

My first blog entry!

Welcome to my aviation blog! I became a pilot in 2009 when I took of to the skies in a sailplane for the first time. From there on flying has became a large part of my life evolving from a hobby to the point that I'm now trying to create myself a career from it. Earlier on I wrote some aviation-related posts in my "blogs" at facebook and the finnish irc-galleria, but now that I'm about to start professional pilot training, I decided that it's time to start a real blog!

So, welcome again and I hope you enjoy reading my posts. This blog is going to tell mainly about my flying studies at SL Flight Training (Salpauslento Oy), a Finnish flight school at Helsinki-Malmi airport. I am enrolled in the school's professional pilot programme, or "Ammattilentäjän Opintolinja" in Finnish. In addition I will be posting general aviation -related topics since I consider that an essential part of my personal flying history. I'm currently a qualified ultralight, sailplane and motor glider pilot so I will be writing about those hobbies at first, and later when I gain my licences, about GA flying with "proper" airplanes too. Also, since I'm fairly sure that my first jobs in the field of flying will be in the general aviation sector, there's no point in separating it from my commercial pilot training :)